The GOLD PRICE lost $17.60 (1.3%) by Comex close at $1,341.40, then lost another $10 in the aftermarket after the FOMC's eructations. Silver gainsaid the gold price by dropping only 3.6 (0.2%) to 2080, then dropped another 17 cents in the aftermarket to 2063c.

I read several analysts, and had to laugh today that one of them was ruminating a BIG drop in gold and the other was chirping about what a bullish set-up had unfolded in gold and silver. Here's what the charts show:

The GOLD PRICE has traded in the selfsame upward trading channel since its December low. Today's fall was the last of three days that have brought gold to touch the channel's bottom boundary. It also closed below its 20 DMA ($1,345). From here gold might (1) bounce off the lower channel boundary and resume its uptrend, or trade down to its 50 DMA ($1,295). The gold price is walking in some heavy boots here, my way of saying a lot of indicators point down. However, silver is gainsaying that weakness, and had a strong day, and that IS bullish.

Lo, is the man batty? Nope, he ain't. The SILVER PRICE yesterday traded down to about 2065c, broke that level today and traded as low as 2052c (never quite touched 2050) about noon, then bounced up to 2097c, and fell off again to 2052. A double bottom, and down only 3.6 cents on the day. Trading at 2063 in the aftermarket. Of such days big surprise turnarounds are made.

Of course, I might be just a fool spinning cobwebs in my brain, but silver did touch back to its 50 DMA today (2055c), a frequent target of corrections, and on the end of the day chart it closed unchanged. AND that 50 DMA happeneth to coincide, yea, to run atop of, the top boundary of silver's three month trading range, wherefrom it broke away stratosphereward in February. In plain English, silver broke out of that trading range, rallied to 2218c, and now hath fallen back to the breakout point for -- one final kiss good-bye, or to fall lower still? If you like to play guts ball, to take chances when you know the edge is on your side though the risk be great, then it's a ripe place to buy.

I may be scalped tomorrow, but I bought this evening. I'm just a durned fool. I'd always rather trust metal in hand than central bank functionaries in Washington. I just don't care for liars much, and never could trust 'em.

What if we all got it all wrong? What if the real business of the cosmos isn't work and sweat and tears but joy? What if CS Lewis was right when he said, "Joy is the serious business of heaven." What if joy is the serious business of our world, too, and of all creation?

What if instead of the dreary round of self-improvement and economic purpose, the purpose of all creation is joy? Did y'all ever watch a dog? Ever notice how much a dog enjoys being a dog? Acts like a dog just for the fun of it? Ever notice that pigs dance? They do, especially when a storm is kicking up. And when somebody is playing, why do we say he's "horsing around"? What if our whole purpose is just to rejoice in being what we are? To play and write and dance and make music and sing just for the fun of it? To romp for joy in God.

Wow. That'd put a lot of economists and politicians out of work, let alone do-gooders.

FOMC press conference today demonstrated once more that famous stabilizing effect that central banks were created for. And as usual, the market's reaction followeth not logic.

Predictably, the FOMC announced it would "taper" by buying only $55 billion in US treasuries and mortgage backed securities. Yet that was piddling to the announcement that the Fed was only kidding about keeping interest rates low until unemployment hit 6.5%. After all, so many people have given up on ever finding jobs now that 6.5% target is getting right easy to hit. Now the Fed has discovered previously unrecognized "scars" in the economy that won't heal for two more years. Thus the Great Healer, The Fed, must keep interest rates low and raise them only slowly.

Rather perversely in the face of the FOMC's resolve to keep repressing the economy with low interest rates, markets interpreted the statement as immediately higher interest rates. Ten year treasury yield shot up 3.39% (bonds dropped) 20 2.772%, well above the 2.708% 20 day moving average, and above the 2.745% 50 DMA as well. -- this despite 15 of the Fed's 16 policy makers believe it will be inappropriate to raise rates this year.

I am not a Fed policy maker but only a natural born durn fool from Tennessee, and I believe this is all hogwash, hoakum, and hype. They're lying as fast as their lips can move. They have to keep interest rates down below the inflation rate to inflate away the debt and to keep the US government's borrowing costs low. They've fallen into their own trap, and can't get out. All the rest is lies, and damn the economy, full speed ahead. They are harvesting you like a farmer harvests a herd of pigs, and think no more of you than he does a hanging side of pork.

Stocks took the FOMC announcement hard, but why I can't guess. Everybody knew the Fed had telegraphed its tapering -- no news there. And if there were a real recovery, rising interest rates really wouldn't slow it down. Actually, rising rates usually accompany recoveries. Makes no sense, but markets have become schizophrenic information junkies, blown from side to side by the latest news without the slightest regard for the next 24 hours.

Dow dropped 114.02 or 0.7%to 16,222.17. S&P500 rode the same sled, down 11.48 (0.61%) to 1,860.77. On the charts both indices bounced up to their short term downtrend line, hit it, and bounced down again. Momentum took a hit as the Dow closed below its 16,265.25 20 DMA and the S&P500 closed near its 20 DMA, 1858.43. Both indices are coiling up into a triangle which will break strongly one way or the other. Direction of least resistance is down.

The repulsive US dollar index rose 62 basis points to 80.15, clean out of its falling wedge and above its 20 DMA (79.94), both bullish signs. MACD also turned up.

The other two scrofulous fiat currencies are fairly mirror images of the dollar. Euro had broken out to the upside from a RISING wedge, above a long standing resistance line about $1.3900 and today fell nearly plumb through the wedge it had left behind. Closed $1.3828, down 0.75%.

Do NOT use these commentaries to trade futures contracts. I don't intend them for that or write them with that short term trading outlook. I write them for long-term investors in physical metals. Take them as entertainment, but not as a timing service for futures.

NOR do I recommend investing in gold or silver Exchange Trade Funds (ETFs). Those are NOT physical metal and I fear one day one or another may go up in smoke. Unless you can breathe smoke, stay away. Call me paranoid, but the surviving rabbit is wary of traps.

NOR do I recommend trading futures options or other leveraged paper gold and silver products. These are not for the inexperienced.

NOR do I recommend buying gold and silver on margin or with debt.

What DO I recommend? Physical gold and silver coins and bars in your own hands.